


Phantom Pains

by checkerbee



Category: Apex Legends (Video Games)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Other, Touch-Starved Revenant, can be read as a friendship, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 10:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24349426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/checkerbee/pseuds/checkerbee
Summary: "You are here now though." They say and something in him breaks, crumbling into dust.
Relationships: Bloodhound & Revenant (Apex Legends), Bloodhound/Revenant (Apex Legends)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 92





	Phantom Pains

The games are put on hold after Loba's appearance, the newly repaired King's Canyon now undergoing its second batch of renovations just after the season's start and it leaves him restless. 

It's not boredom, not quite, but rather a need to get his hands on something. The girl makes snide remarks whenever she sees him and he returns them in kind, something like satisfaction burning within him when her bright eyes go dark with pain and anger. She has a fire, but if she crosses the line, he'll snuff her out like a candle. 

Except that he can't because the Syndicate suits say she's off limits, eating out of the palm of her hand like dogs.

If he had skin, he'd be crawling out of it.

He paces around the Legends' complex instead, coiled tight like a spring and searching for something to do to keep himself busy. 

That's what leads him to Hound's room a week later. It's the middle of the night and they're sleep rumpled and warm, shivering slightly when they grab his hand to pull him inside. His fingers are cold, all of him is cold, but they don't seem to mind. 

"It's been some time since you've visited me." The say and he nods, his free hand clenching and unclenching at his side. He can still feel the sensation of drowning before he managed to pull himself out of the wreckage of Skull Town. And before that, the sensation of the bullet piercing into his skull, just as painful and vivid as if he was made of flesh and bone. It aches, like phantom pains still fresh in his mind, but he doesn't know how to describe it to them. 

Maybe Silva would know. 

They do not need an explanation though, not from him or at least not right now, because they bring his hand up to their mouth and kiss his knuckles with a tenderness that would make his breath catch in his lungs if he were still human. 

"You are here now though." They say and something in him breaks, crumbling into dust. He cannot cry, but his voice box stutters on a pained sound as he falls into their warmth. Any other time, he'd sneer at his behavior, at the weakness he's showing, but they catch him with a noise of surprise and hold tight. "You are here, vinur minn." 

They repeat it a few more times as his weight brings them to the floor, legs readjusting until they're folded comfortably to the side with him still in their arms. You are here, you are here. Then softer and more purposeful, in what he can only assume is their native tongue. He lets the words wash over him as his death replays in his mind, the sensation of falling with a hole in his head. The startling horror of waking up again surrounded by the would be corpses of himself at the bottom of a gulf. Of feeling his lungs beg for air despite not needing it, because his brain is telling him that he's drowning, that he needs to breathe. 

He does now, the sound rattling in his chest and they loosen the fingers wrapped in his, chuckling softly when he tightens his in response. 

"This is not comfortable for my wrist." 

Oh. 

He releases them and they murmur out a thank you before capturing both of his hands in theirs. Their arms are framing his, caging him in in something that isn't quite a hug and he leans into their chest, warmth crawling up his back and into his body until it begins to chase some of the cold away. 

"I've drowned before," He tells them, resisting the urge to swallow around a nonexistent knot in his throat. "I don't have lungs but good luck telling that to my mind." 

"Did you know that your brain can kill you like that?" He continues, another death, another memory flickering behind his eyes."One moment you're fine and in the next you're shutting down because a lump of flesh in your skull is telling the rest of your body to stop trying."

Except he hadn't been fine that first time, when his mind finally released him from his torment. Torture is something he's good at, something he understands like a second language. But all that knowledge doesn't really help when you're locked in a back room with water rushing into your airways, drowning on land and knowing that the people doing it aren't going to take pity just because you puked up your lunch three hours in.

"Knowing that does not make it easier." They say after a long moment, bringing him back to the present. He shakes his head, because no, it really doesn't. "When I was a child, I almost died to kill a beast that slátrað my Uncle Artur." 

They turn their hands over so that he can see the webbing of dark scars traveling over their skin. They're the same as the ones that crawl up their neck and frame their face, creeping out from behind red hair. 

"It left a mark, but it has faded." They pause and he can feel their hair brushing against where their head rests on his shoulder. "It fades, vinur minn." 

His voice clicks for a moment, as if stuck in his throat. "I know." 

"Yes, but you know here." They tap their head against his and he huffs, vibrations traveling through his chest. "You are stuck there. You feed it until it eats you, like a beast that is sveltur." 

"I can't get rid of it." Not when his memory is a digitally enhanced database of everything that's ever happened to him. 

"I do not expect you to," They tighten their hold on him for a moment, like a hug, before relaxing again. "Find something else to feed it." 

He lifts their intertwined hands. "Something like this?"

He can feel their laugh rumble against his back, deep and rich and alive in a way that he can't bring himself to feel. 

"Yes, vinur minn. Something like-" A yawn cuts off the rest of their sentence and he stirs, joints making soft noises as they move for the first time since they ended up on the floor together. 

"I've kept you up." 

"You have, but I do not mind. This was more important and I can sleep in now that the season has been cut short." 

That brings the issue of the girl sharply back into his mind and Hound pauses in picking themself up off of the floor. "Think about it tomorrow."

Feed the beast something new. Right. 

He stretches for a moment, letting the components in his limbs realign as they plop down onto their bed with less dignity that he would've expected. "Whether or not you join me is up to you, but I need sleep before the morning." 

He considers leaving them to their rest, but he knows that if he does, he'll just end up pacing around the compound again and reset the progress that they have made. So, he folds himself on top of their blankets and raises the arm closest to them. They curl into him, holding out their hand until he lets them lace their fingers together again. He presses his arm against their back, feels them shift to get comfortable and a soft sigh leaves their lungs as they settle. 

It doesn't take Hound long to pass out, soft snores passing through their lips, and he finds himself staring up at the ceiling, wondering how he got here. The simple answer is obvious, but he still wonders why they bothered to open their door to him now. Or the first time, for that matter. They owed him nothing and yet, they helped him without asking too many questions or demanding anything in return. 

Unless, a not very comfortable pillow counted. 

He almost laughs at that and they grumble out something that isn't even close to coherent words. 

"Sorry." He says, the thank you catching in his throat. He'll say it one day, maybe, but for now he focuses on the feeling of his hand in theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> Not gonna lie, I didn't realize that I never mentioned Artur until I finished writing this and I'm too lazy to fix it now, so we'll say our precious birb is sleeping by the time this takes place. 
> 
> Missing pets aside, let me know your thoughts!


End file.
